Man in the Middle
The man died! Moments after his death, the man found himself standing at a large gate guarded by a rather intimidating figure. The guard asked the man his name and the circumstances surrounding his death. “My name is Unknown (UK)”, said the man; “and as for my death, I died of shock and suffocation.” The guard, somewhat skeptical, and with a hint of condescension, looked down at the man and said, “UK, before I can open this gate and allow you in, I have a few questions for you.”
“In your lifetime, did you strive to keep the Laws of Moses, following all the rituals and ceremonies required of God’s people?” “I have heard, of course” replied UK, “of all those requirements that one must observe, but I never paid any heed to those; they just seemed so petty and empty to me, so I ignored them all.”
“How about indulgences”, inquired the guard, “how stands your account today?” “Indulgences!” scoffed UK, seemingly somewhat amused. “Even a no good wretch such as I, understands the folly of trying to buy my way out of a punishment I have long deserved. No, sir, indulgences I never considered.”
“What religious denominations were you affiliated with in life?” UK looked at the guard and said, “Sir, the only church I ever attended is one we visited when I was a child, and we attended only on one holiday. I have never officially belonged to any denomination and I can’t even recall the name of the church we attended that day, or even where it is located; you see sir, my parents felt we had all the church we needed at home”
“Ok, so you never belonged to a denomination, but have you ever worked in a soup line helping to feed the hungry, or provided shelter from the cold for the homeless, aid for the sick, help to the widows, comfort to the hurting, hospitality to those who hate you, etc.?” “Well, no sir” replied UK, “I have never even considered the plight of the homeless, hungry, hurting, and certainly not the well-being my enemies; my thoughts were always on me and my own wants and needs; I was a selfish man, without a selfless bone in my body.”
“Have you never been baptized, had hands laid upon you, spoken in strange languages, partaken at the communion table, confessed to a priest, made a religious pilgrimage, etc.?”, inquired the guard. UK replied, “Sir, not only have I done none of these things, but I lived my life in such a manner that all I have done was in open rebellion against God and all that He expected of me – I lived the most unrighteous of lives.”
Astounded, the guard replied, “So, UK, you are telling me that not only did you NOT do ‘all that you could do’, you essentially have done nothing resembling righteousness at all; so, what then compels you to think you have any right whatsoever to cross through this gate and enter this glorious heavenly realm?” UK, looking up into the guard’s eyes and with joy radiating from his face said, “Because, sir, just before surrendering His last breath, the man nailed to the middle cross turned towards me and said that I could; and I believed Him!”
The Bible says in Isaiah 64:6 that ALL of our righteousness, the best we have ever done, appears as nothing more than filthy rags in the eyes of God. Your sins have been paid for; however, they left a filthy stain upon you, and that filthy stain is all God sees – unless, of course, you have heard and believed the Gospel and then with sincere humility fallen to your knees and cried out to Jesus, confessing your need and asking Him to save you. When you do so, you are immediately in Christ Jesus, and when God looks at you from that point on, all He sees is His only begotten Son and His righteousness.
I Corinthians 15:1-4 says, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” Friend, this is the Gospel, believe it and you will be saved – the man on the middle cross said so!
